There are a number of strange things that happen during the end credits of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 -- and they're not all limited to the five extra scenes that James Gunn has peppered in. As the list of people responsible for the making of the blockbuster scrolls by, fans will notice that one of the dancing floating heads behind all of the names is Jeff Goldblum, dressed up as his Thor: Ragnarok character, The Grandmaster. Given that he has no part in the Marvel film, many have wondered why exactly he is included, but we recently got a fascinating answer on that subject from Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. He told me,
We had footage of just Goldblum dancing and thought it would be fun to put it in there. And as you know from the comics, he's The Collector's brother. Keep an eye out at a particular theme park attraction opening soon, you'll get to see a little crossover... It's just a fun thing. I don't even know -- you're the first person to even mention that!
I sat down with Kevin Feige during the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 press day in Los Angeles last month, and towards the end of the conversation I took the opportunity to bluntly ask about Jeff Goldblum's strange cameo. He was clearly surprised by the question, and while it seems that the footage of The Grandmaster was used simply because it was funny, the tidbit about siblings is most definitely fascinating.
In Marvel Comics, both The Collector (a.k.a. Taneleer Tivan), and The Grandmaster (a.k.a. En Dwi Gast) are entities known as the Elders of the Universe, having come into existence billions of years ago and developed as extraordinarily powerful beings. Going by Kevin Feige's comments, it seems that at the very least we'll see this relationship play out as part of the new DisneyLand ride Guardians of the Galaxy -- Mission: Breakout, but it's hard not to think about the possibilities beyond the theme park world.
Specifically, it's now hard not to think about the idea of Benicio Del Toro's The Collector and Jeff Goldblum's The Grandmaster somehow uniting for some kind of plan that plays out during the course of The Avengers: Infinity War and The Avengers 4. Because Thor: Ragnarok hasn't been released yet, we can't really speculate on how he might be involved, but we did see The Collector receive the Aether a.k.a. The Reality Stone in the post-credits scene of Thor: The Dark World -- which means that he very easily slip into the plot of the 2018 and 2019 blockbusters.
Were you surprised to see Jeff Goldblum's The Grandmaster in the end credits of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2? Are you like us and want to see the character teamed up with Benicio Del Toro's The Collector in future Marvel Studios films? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts!
